NY Times: Report Finds Tax Cuts Heavily Favor the Wealthy. “According to the new report from the Congressional Budget Office, about two-thirds of the benefits from the tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003, went to households in the top fifth of earnings, with an average income of $203,740.
“But the report also gave Republicans support for their contention that tax reduction had brought some benefit to people in almost all income categories.”
Wall Street Journal: Wealth and Happiness Don’t Necessarily Go Hand in Hand “If psychologists had a seat on a government’s economic team, they would point out that, once a nation reaches a certain level of prosperity, further economic growth is unlikely to buy additional happiness.”
This must be on the minds of many. All this week one of the most emailed articles on Yahoo! Finance has been Millions won’t make you happier, an article from Bankrate.com.
Rex Hammock of Rexblog is ready to try blogs only for news and information from Aug. 13 to Aug. 22. Steve Ruebel of Micro Persuasion tried it in May/June. Hammock says he will include a news fast during his diet.
Seth Godin’s Blog: “According to MarketingVOX, online media accounts for 12% of media consumption. That’s a stunning rise: one out of eight, up from zero in just ten or so years.
“At the same time, though, they report that online media accounts for just 2% of ad spending.”
Continues the sentiment mentioned in Gloomy predictions from Dow Jones.
NY Times: When the Power Goes Out, the Sun Still Rises. Even though the systems are expensive, customers want to “take the plunge and try something better.”
Also there’s more on the Department of Energy’s site: Energy Savers: A consumer guide to energy efficiency & renewable energy.
Kansas City Business Journal: Driver shortages may put trucking’s boom in park.
Slashdot: Apollo 11 Photographs Unfrozen: “NASA has pulled another set of photographs, this time of Apollo 11’s trip, out of the freezer and digitized them. They are glorious.” Direct to Apollo gallery
N.Y. Times: Marketing Entwined With Journalism on Forbes.com. Forbes.Com has begun placing links to ads in its news stories Also Wired News: Fark Sells Out. France Surrenders
Wired News: FCC: Why No a La Carte Cable?
Wired News: Paid Search Growth May Slow
Wired News: News Sites, Where the Men Are
Wired News: What, Me Register?. Also see Buzzworthy Registration pros, cons.
CNN: Is Craiglist a Google 2.0?
Rexblog: What hath the 24/7 news cycle wrought?
lost remote: NBC News to offer newscasts for cell phones. Also Yahoo News: ABC News Now available on Sprint cell phones
Rexblog: Great time to be a news junkie
Current: “‘Co. Aytch’: a side show of the big show” by Samuel R. Watkins
Finished: “Grave Secrets” by Kathy Reichs
“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” by J.K. Rowling
“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling
“Everybody Dies” by Lawrence Block
“One for the Money” by Janet Evanovich
“The Tutor” by Peter Abrahams
“Shadow Prey” by John Sanford
“Monkeywrench” by P.J. Tracy
Audio
Current: “Ghost soldiers the forgotten epic story of World War II’s most dramatic mission” by Hampton Sides
Finished:
“The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley
“Booth: A novel” by David Robertson
Business Week: The Vanishing Mass Market —
New technology. Product proliferation. Fragmented media. Get ready: It’s a whole new world. Mass marketing is out; micromarketing is in. In you’re in an ad-supported media, you need strong niches.